Search "SaaS KPIs" and you'll find a flood of articles about software companies. MRR, churn, NRR, all presented as if it's a language only tech companies speak. That's a shame, because it's nonsense.
A gym with 1,200 members on direct debit runs a subscription model. So does a cleaning company with 80 weekly contracts. And the HVAC installer with maintenance packages. The billing frequency is monthly or annual, the customer relationship is ongoing, and today's revenue tells you little about next month's, unless you know how to look at it.
That's exactly what SaaS KPIs are built for.
"Recurring revenue is a model, not an industry. The metrics SaaS companies have used for ten years work just as well for fitness, cleaning, and maintenance."
The problem with traditional numbers
Most subscription business owners look at three things each month: revenue, costs, and profit. That makes sense, it's what your balance sheet and P&L give you. But for a business with recurring income, those numbers miss the point.
Say your gym does €92,000 revenue this month. Last month was €90,000. Good news? Maybe. But what if you also signed 40 new members and lost 35? Then your foundation is shaking, you're only growing because you're charging new prices for new members. You won't see that in revenue. You'll see it in MRR movement and churn.
Four KPIs that apply to every subscription model
MRR
Monthly Recurring Revenue
The predictable monthly revenue from all active subscriptions. Not the same as invoiced revenue.
Churn
Cancellations per month
The percentage of customers (or MRR) that cancelled this month. The most important health indicator.
NRR
Net Revenue Retention
How much revenue your existing customer base generates this year vs. last, without new customers.
ARPA
Average revenue per customer
MRR divided by active customers. Shows whether your customers are getting more or less expensive.
None of these terms were invented for software. They were invented for recurring revenue, and you have that too.
What traditional KPIs don't tell you
| What you want to know | Traditional numbers | SaaS KPIs |
|---|---|---|
| Am I really growing? | Revenue increaseCan be one-off | Net MRR growthNew − cancelled + upgrades |
| How loyal are my customers? | Customer countNo trend visible | Churn & NRRMovement in both directions |
| What is a customer worth? | Invoice amountOne moment in time | ARPA & LTVPredictable over lifetime |
| What does my future look like? | Gut-feel forecastExcel, often too optimistic | ARR & cohort retentionBased on historical behaviour |
Four sectors, the same insights
To make it concrete, here are four examples from businesses that don't sell a single line of code:
Gym, the summer churn
Your revenue report shows a "stable summer" every year. But a churn analysis reveals you consistently lose 40% more members in July and August. With SaaS KPIs you can test a pause membership and measure whether it actually retains your NRR.
Cleaning company, growth that isn't growth
Revenue is up 8% this year, so you think you're growing. But your existing customers' MRR hasn't moved, all growth comes from new customers while your ARPA falls. Translation: your new customers are cheaper than your old ones. Without SaaS KPIs you'll work harder for ever-smaller margins.
HVAC maintenance, the value of a contract
A one-off boiler service generates €180. An annual contract €300, but with 8% churn that customer stays an average of 8 years. That's not a €300 customer, that's a €2,400 customer. Without LTV you undersell yourself on every proposal.
Insurance broker, making visible what's already fixed
Your ongoing policies make up 80% of revenue, but they're treated as an accounting line item. With MRR and NRR you can see at a glance whether your portfolio is growing, shrinking, or stable, and which product lines are driving churn.
Why most businesses don't have these numbers
Not because they're not useful. Because they don't appear on the invoice. Your accounting package records transactions, not the question "how many customers did I lose compared to last month?". You have to calculate that yourself, usually in Excel, usually with data you manually exported.
The same model deserves the same numbers
Whether you sell software or run a gym: you have a subscription model. And subscription models live or die by the same things, how much you bring in, how much you lose, and what's left per customer at the bottom line.
Your MRR, churn and NRR, direct from Exact Online.
RecurBoard automatically calculates 8 subscription KPIs from your subscription management. No Excel, no double admin. 45-day free trial.